Aztec Bonanza Slot Review

Released in March 2020, this game can be played at online casinos such as Casumo, Unibet or Royal Panda.

Theme and general information

The theme of Aztec Bonanza is not difficult to guess at. We’re back in the realm of the ancient Aztec. This time, we’re not simply looking at ruins, though. The scene looks livelier than that, though we’re certainly not visiting Aztec life here. The background is beautifully drawn and shows us once more just how good the graphics department at Pragmatic Play can be when they want to.

We don’t get to see much of it, but what we do see is gorgeous.

The reel set is technically well executed as well. However, the reel symbols are somewhat baffling as you could hardly consider them Aztec-inspired. We get card suit symbols (hearts, clubs and spades, but no diamonds) as well as various geometric shapes that are totally generic and a green gem as the highest value symbol. The latter pays 2.5x our stake for 5 on a payline. To make matters worse, the reel symbols are garishly neon, which does not suit the theme at all.

The only actual Aztec-inspired symbol is the mystery symbol, which shows us a golden Aztec mask.

There are no wilds or scatters in this slot.

You can play this game from 0.30 to 150.00 per spin.

Unlock the blocked tiles for extra features

The reel setup is quite unusual in Aztec Bonanza. The standard 5 reels are showing 2x4x6x4x2 symbols in the base game, which gives us those 384 ways to win. All four corners come with 3 blocked symbols.

The way to unblock those symbols is by getting consecutive wins. Whenever we get two consecutive wins, one corner is unblocked, which not only triggers a feature but also adds more paylines to the game.

The first corner to unlock is the upper left-hand corner. When that happens, Mystery symbols are added to the reels, which can create more wins.

The next corner with two more consecutive wins to unlock is the upper right-hand corner. Now, symbol upgrades are added to the reels. The low value symbols currently on the reels are upgraded to a higher value symbol.

Then follows the lower left-hand corner if we manage to add two more consecutive wins (so, six consecutive win in total now). When that happens, mega symbols of 2×2 size are added to reels 1 and 2.

If we finally manage to unlock the last corner with two further consecutive wins, more 2×2 mega symbols are added to reels 4 and 5.

Of course, as soon as the chain is interrupted, all symbols are blocked once more, and we have to start again.

Free spins with active features on every spin

When all blocked symbols have been unlocked, we get 5 free spins. All symbols remain unlocked during the free spins and any of the four features are randomly featured during each spin.

It’s not possible to retrigger the free spins.

Verdict: Too bright and repetitive, Aztec Bonanza doesn’t enthrall

The theoretical RTP (Return to Player) for Aztec Bonanza is 96.53%, which is great. The volatility of this slot is also not too bad and sits at medium. That said, however, you will still get many dead spins or rarely manage to get two winning spins in a row to actually get things going.

When they do get going, however, you will almost always end up triggering the free spins. It’s significantly easier to keep unlocking all blocked symbols once you’ve made it through four consecutive wins. But don’t count on getting to the free spins every time.

Still, you’ll get there often enough. And that’s when things will get boring. The gameplay will eventually be utterly repetitive and you’re only looking at whether the symbols are unlocked or not. If they are not, you will hardly pay attention to what’s going on. And when the free spins are finally underway, they will also seem somewhat boring and you won’t even mind that you only get 5 of them.

The potential of this slot is apparently set at 19,000x our stake, which is impressive but perhaps also exaggerated. We never managed to get even 100x our stake during the free spins, which is certainly disappointing.